United Nations of Beer

Schell SnowStorm

by Bill Cassidy
(Beer Delegate, MN, USA)

Schell SnowStorm: like Christmas, it comes but once per year

Schell SnowStorm winter ale

Today's trivia question: What do they call Santa Claus in Belgium?

In my nascent tenure as a Minnesota Beer Delegate roughly a year ago, our fearless Secretary General contacted me on the back channels with a special mission. Of course, the exact contents of that message are highly privileged, but the general gist was thus: review Schell's SnowStorm winter ale.

And I failed. Miserably. By the time I even got about to looking for SnowStorm, it was damn near March, slightly past the use-by date of a winter seasonal. I did find a couple of specimens in a general sampler twelve-pack, but these two gems had been sitting in the warehouse at New Ulm for such a period and thus of such wonderful quality that I decided to review Schmalz Alt instead. (Which was actually in season.)

And I have no idea what I was missing. Seriously.

SnowStorm is Schell brewmaster Steve Marti's chance to play. Every year he rolls out a unique brew for the Winter seasonal. Whatever was hiding behind those Schell SnowStorm labels last year bears no resemblance to what I'm enjoying right now. I seem to remember something distinctly porter-like last year.

But that was a year ago, and beer has that particular way of distorting memory. This year, Christmas comes early. Like a kid on that venerable morning, I have no idea what is wrapped in that pretty paper, um... er... bottle. Did I just mix a metaphor?

With no clue as to what I am getting into, I crack the bottle. I take a sniff. mmmm. Spicy. Faint hints of mulling spices, nutmeg and clove. Yum. I decant, a deep, rich amber, almost red. Another sniff. Some fruit with the spices. A happy combination.

I sip. A slightly tart sweetness, apple maybe at the beginning. Through the middle the pleasant hops note enforces a mild and perfect bitterness. As the swallow finishes up the spices I sniffed out first linger. Quite honestly I don't care what I missed last year. This is delicious.

This year is a nice little Belgian dubbel style. Just to see how my beer tasting skills have held up, I checked out what Brewmaster Marti had to say the beer should taste like: "SnowStorm 2007 was inspired by the Monastic beers of Belgium. Authentic Belgian yeast produces subtle overtones of fruit and spice. Six malts combined with a touch of Turbinado sugars help to create a complex malt character, with hints of raisins, dark fruit and rum."

Yep, tastebuds still working properly. Of American versions of Belgian beer, Schell SnowStorm is right up there with the perennial favorite Fat Tire.

Yet another sign Christmas has come early: I'm already in preview's for this year's production of A Christmas Carol, but as a stocking stuffer, we don't have a show or rehearsal this Tuesday evening. Which allows me a chance to take in some pub trivia at a local watering hole. And so, I bid you adieu.

And the answer(s) to today's trivia question: Sint Niklaas, Sinterklass, Kerstman, Pere Fouettard, or Pere Noel.